Alfresco art class in beautiful garden is big draw for pupils

A group of young artists have been inspired by the dazzling dementia-friendly  gardens at a care organisation.

Pupils from  Gwersyllt CP Primary School joined residents for an alfresco art class amid the multi-coloured blooms in the11-acre grounds of Pendine Park in Wrexham.

The glorious displays are the work of head gardener Andrew Jones and his team and are much admired for their wonderful colours and for their therapeutic value as well.

When the sun is out especially residents don’t just sit out among the blossoms but can walk among them, according to award-winning Bodlondeb home manager Ann Chapman who said: “The gardens are absolutely beautiful and the residents really appreciate them.

“Sometimes, especially if someone is having a difficult day then we take them for a walk in the gardens and the sight of the flowers and trees has a really positive effect on them.”

Pendine has formed a special relationship with the school and the pupils pay regular visits to the care homes and share their art classes with the residents.

Elizah Flewitt, 11, who says she’d like to be a florist when she grows up, has formed a bond with Lynn Kelly, one of the residents.

She said: “We’re best friends and I love spending time with her and drawing the gardens though I don’t like colouring them in.

“I would like to be a florist though because I really like flowers.”

A smiling Lynn said: “I like the activities with the school. We sit out and colour and paint. I love the roses and the bluebells.”

Fellow pupil Naomi Hope, 11, said: “I come to Pendine regularly and really like meeting the residents and the art that we do.

“The gardens are gorgeous. I love flowers and I have plants I take care of at home where I also grow raspberries.”

Assistant head teacher Jacquie O’Toole, said: “The pupils pay regular visits to the care home for art lessons and to interact with the residents.

“The gardens here are beautiful and the children often comment on the colours and the lovely fragrances of the flowers.”

The spacious lawns and courtyards are ideal for residents to enjoy picnics and outdoor activities during the summer months.

Andrew is determined that residents should get the best possible experience from the gardens he loyally tends to.

He has been at Pendine Park for 10 years after beginning gardening in his home village of Marchwiel where he was one of four boys and two girls in the family.

“My mum got me into gardening when a neighbour asked if someone could cut the grass for her and then a job came up at Marchwiel Hall and the rest is history,” he said.

Andrew, who heads a team of six at Pendine Park’s care homes in Wrexham and Caernarfon, did an apprenticeship down in Kent with some of his training at the world famous Kew Gardens in London.

He has worked extensively at prestigious gardens including a spell as head gardener on the 4,000-acre Leckford Estate in Hampshire, now home to the Waitrose Farm that supplies its supermarkets across the UK, for renowned garden designer Martin Lane Fox, also in Hampshire, and even for celebrity couple Jamie Cullum and Sophie Dahl in Hertfordshire as well as at Marchwiel Hall.

There he tended a two-acre vegetable garden and greenhouses which produced peaches and other fruits but he has now spent ten years at Pendine where he has been given free rein by owners Mario and Gill Kreft, both enthusiastic gardeners.

One of his tasks was to create a sensory garden and he chose plants for their colour, texture and fragrance to allow residents with issues such as dementia and limited eyesight to have their senses stimulated through touching or smelling as well as visually.

He said: “I originally thought I might go back to Hampshire but I’ve loved it here and get on really well with Mario and Gill who love horticulture and gardening.

“My job has been to raise the game here and hopefully I’ve done that.

“There’s no such thing here as a plant budget here.  Mario and Gill are very passionate about the gardens and both love nature and are very encouraging.

“It’s been a difficult start to this year in the gardens because it was a very wet winter and it’s been a cold spring and early summer but it’s coming right now and the gardens are looking good again.”